COASTE | EDITOR’S WELCOME
YourCOASTE.com
VOLUME II | Number 2
Welcome to paradise. Just be careful where you park. I was recently involved in a minor auto accident in the parking lot of the Sanibel Post Office. I parked, then exited the van and opened the side door to gather my mail. As I was doing so, another car, parked directly across the way, began to roll backwards. There was no driver, only five passengers who were shouting and flailing, apparently helpless to place the gear in park, as the driver had obviously failed to do. And then: wham! into my right rear bumper. Fact check: these folks were all likely north of 70 years. Immediately, a woman passenger, seated in the front, began to bark at me: “What happened? How did this happen?” All the while, her husband — the driver — was inside the Post Office, oblivious to the almost comic event transforming outside. While waiting for the Sanibel Police to arrive, everyone except the woman exited the car, rolled their eyes and otherwise tried to hide their discomfort. Then the woman looked to me and said: “Do you live here?” When I answered, she responded: “Why would you want to live here? The hurricanes!” Fortunately, the damage was minor, but this woman’s incessant haranguing was so over the top that it made me laugh and ask myself: Why are you visiting here? The point of all this is: why people love visiting here and living here. The facts are, well, almost toomany to count. Beaches. Nature. Weather. Sunshine. Natural beauty. A comfortable, casual style. A downtown that’s suddenly, literally rocking. A respected and growing performing arts collective. Relative safety. A precious gem of Florida unlike any other part of Florida, in all the good ways. So welcome to one of the greatest places on earth to visit or live, at a great time of the year, as the stories of our April-May issue demonstrate. And never mind the hurricanes, lady.
Founder | Executive Editor John Sprecher JohnS@YourCOASTE.com Creative Director Director of Photography Milissa Sprecher MilissaS@YourCOASTE.com Associate Publisher Reynauld Bentley ReynauldB@YourCOASTE.com Associate Publisher Caryn Moskal CarynM@YourCOASTE.com Associate Writer Emily Przybylo EmilyP@YourCOASTE.com
COASTE is published six times a year by COASTE LLC. Print and digital magazines are offered by subscription, emailed or mailed to you bi-monthly. You can also download digital issues on the App Store and Google Play for your mobile devices. For weekly updates, visit YourCOASTE.com.
2330 Palm Ridge Road | PO Box 869 | Sanibel, FL 33957
ON OUR COVER: The Matejcek family at Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel. Image: Milissa Sprecher.
John Sprecher, Editor
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